Memory in Vergil's Aeneid: Creating the Past

242 Pages·2013·1.3 MB·English

by  Aaron M. Seider

MEMORY IN VERGIL’S AENEID
Tracingthe path from Troy’s destructionto Rome’s foundation, the
Aeneidexploresthetransitionbetweenpastandfuture.AstheTrojans
struggletofoundanewcityandthenarratorsingsofhisaudience’s
often painful history, memory becomes intertwined with a crucial
leitmotif:thechallengeofbeingpartofagroupthatsurvivesviolence
anddestructiononlytofacethedauntingtaskofrememberingwhat
was lost. This book offers a new reading of the Aeneid that engages
withcriticalworkonmemory,andquestionstheprevailingviewthat
Aeneasmustforgethisdisastroushistoryinordertoescapefromacycle
ofloss.ConsideringcrucialscenessuchasAeneas’reconstructionof
Celaeno’sprophecyandhisslayingofTurnus,thisbookdemonstrates
thatmemoryintheAeneidisareconstructiveanddynamicprocess,
one that offers a social and narrative mechanism for integrating a
traumaticpastwithanuncertainfuture.
aaron m. seider isAssistantProfessorofClassicsattheCollege
oftheHolyCross.

MEMORY IN
VERGIL’S AENEID
Creating the past
AARON M. SEIDER
UniversityPrintingHouse,Cambridgecb28bs,UnitedKingdom
PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork
CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge.
ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof
education,learningandresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence.
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107031807
(cid:2)C AaronSeider2013
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2013
PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyCPIGroupLTd,Croydoncr04yy
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
Seider,AaronM.,1980–
MemoryinVergil’sAeneid:creatingthepast/byAaronM.Seider.
pages cm
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-1-107-03180-7(hardback)
1.Virgil.Aeneis. 2.Memoryinliterature. 3.Epicpoetry,Latin–Historyandcriticism. I.Title.
pa6825.s47 2013
873(cid:3).01–dc23 2013009532
isbn978-1-107-03180-7Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
urlsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication,
anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,
accurateorappropriate.
ToERIN,Noah,andLailah

Contents
Acknowledgements pageviii
Introduction 1
1 TurningtowardRome 28
2 ThechallengeofTroy 66
3 Apersonalaffair:memoriesofDido 96
4 Thenarrator’ssong 124
5 Imperativesofmemory:foundationandfuryinAeneid12 159
Conclusion 196
Bibliography 205
Indexlocorum 219
Indexverborum 224
Index 225
vii
Acknowledgements
Iwasfortunatetobenefitfromthesupportandgenerosityofmanypeople
while researching and writing this book. This work began as an idea for
mydissertationattheUniversityofChicago,andIamverygratefultothe
membersofmycommittee,ShadiBartsch,RalphJohnson,Miche`leLowrie,
and David Wray, for their critiques and encouragement as it progressed
from one draft to another. A particular debt of gratitude is owed to my
chair,Shadi,whosawthisprojectthroughfromitsproposalinfall2007to
itsdefenseinfall2010andthencontinuedtoofferinvaluableguidanceall
thewaythroughtoitspublication.AsagraduatestudentatChicagoIalso
benefited from discussion with many other faculty members, including
Cliff Ando, Liz Asmis, Helma Dik, Chris Faraone, Jonathan Hall, Sarah
Nooter,MarkPayne,andPeterWhite,aswellaswithmyfellowstudents,
NickHoulahan,TobiasJoho,andAlexLee.Ialsothankthoseinvolvedwith
running the Rhetoric and Poetics Workshop at Chicago, a venue where I
enjoyeddeliveringseveraltalkstoanengagedandreceptiveaudience.
During my last year of work on the dissertation, I was fortunate to
receive a Memoria Romana International Doctoral Fellowship, an award
that offered financial assistance along with the splendid opportunity to
discusstopicsrelatedtoRomanmemoryatanOctober2010colloquium.
Igainedmuchfrommyconversationswiththeotherfellowshiprecipients,
SusanBlevins,LaurenDonovanGinsberg,LucyJones,SebastianModrow,
Shreyaa Patel, Maggie Popkin, Emmanuelle Raymond, and Stefano
Rebeggiani, as well as Anna Anguissola, Reinhold Glei, and Wolfgang
Polleichtner,whoalsoparticipatedinourmeetings.Iamespeciallygrateful
to Emmanuelle, who, along with her insightful feedback on my ideas,
generously shared her own work on memory in the Aeneid. My greatest
thanks in regard to the Memoria Romana project go to Karl Galinsky.
Not only did he organize and oversee our meeting in Rome as well as
many other aspects of the project, but he has been unstintingly generous
with his time and advice, beginning with his support of my application
viii